Florentina's spring form stacks up

SYDNEY filly Florentina raced right up to her excellent form last spring when she resumed from a six-month spell to land today’s Group Three $125,000 Roger Hawke Gold Coast Guineas (1200m).
Trained at Rosehill by David Payne, Florentina eased to $6 from her opening quote of $4.60 after good betting support for Easy Running ($3.50 fav) and Morning Captain ($8 into $4.20).
But the Redoute’s Choice filly had strong formlines going into today’s race and looked the one to beat after a  good spring campaign in Sydney last year when she competed at Group Two and Three level against the likes of crack filly Streama.
Florentina was beaten a long head by that filly in the Furious Stakes (1400m) at Warwick Farm on September 3 then was third to Streama and Pane In The Glass in the Tea Rose Stakes (1500m) at Rosehill a fortnight later.
Sydney rider Glyn Schofield had Florentina in a handy position throughout and she drew clear to beat Gold Coast filly Punch On ($11) by a length with a neck to Double Impact ($15) in third.
 Emmalene ($8) ran home from back in the field to finish fourth.
Florentina’s win maintained the recent dominance of fillies in the Gold Coast Guineas with the girls winning six of the last seven runnings.
Story: Neil Archer